4 Sweet Facebook Wins: Marketing Chocolate for Valentine’s Day

So, I was researching for brands that are marketing on Facebook this Valentine’s Day.

What did I find?

Mounds of chocolatiers hosting Facebook contests.

Well, this was a sweet win-win for a chocolate loving gal like me, whose company just so happens to make (among other online marketing tools) Facebook contest apps. I simply could not resist the temptation…

Excuse my self-indulgence as I share my bites of these rich marketing morsels, oozing with delights for your last minute promotion ideas.

Here are four Valentine’s Day Facebook campaigns, with what’s right, what’s wrong, and how you can do it for yourself.

1. Valentine’s Day Wish: Purdy’s Chocolatier

Contestants enter their Valentine’s Day wish in the comments section, and they are entered to win. There are 5 randomly selected winners per day.

The Prize: A Purdy’s chocolate product.

What’s right:

The contest has a very low barrier to enter, and multiple prize winners.

The prize is perfect, as Purdy’s takes the opportunity to showcase their products.

The image shows the prize, and even includes one unwrapped chocolate.

It engages by generating themed comments, which also deepens the association between their brand and Valentine’s Day.

What’s wrong:

The contest doesn’t run everyday, which would build momentum, and even higher engagement levels coming up on the 14th.

The description has too much text and not enough spacing. A question would also help, such as: “What’s your Valentines Day Wish? Tell us in the comments. Be ENTERED to WIN Purdy’s Luv Bites. 5 winners announced tomorrow morning!”

The link is directed to the product page, but could have been linked to a specific contest landing page to make it feel more unique.

They could have used the opportunity to get more Likes or emails by gating their promotion.

How you can do it:

Run daily contests leading up to Valentines Day

Make your contest easy to enter and brand related

Take the opportunity to market your products

Editor’s Note: Since the writing of this article, Purdy’s has updated their Valentine’s Day contest. They now use a third party app to collect emails, and create a more engaging campaign. It runs everyday.

2. Share Cards for Coupons: Ghirardelli

Participants share the Ghirardelli Chocogram to their Facebook friends, or post it to a Friend’s Wall. Entrants are then directed to an email lead generation page, and once completed, they get a coupon to print and, presumably, to use in-store. They limit coupons to two per person.

Coupon Value: $1

What’s right:

The Chocogram is visually appealing, with a themed, branded chocolate.

The card is super easy to share, and can even be given to friends by posting on their Wall.

The coupon motivates a share of their Valentine’s card, which increases word-of-mouth marketing, and sales of their products.

They limit the number of coupons given out, but encourage more shares in their CTA.

What’s wrong:

The coupon should be a coupon code, to be used both online and in-store - especially because Ghirardelli has a Facebook store!

The Valentine’s Day Facebook tab is too cluttered - it markets gift ideas, the coupon, and lifestyle tips all at the same time.

3. Valentine’s Day Sweepstakes: Godiva

Participants upload their best heartwarming image after completing a email-gated Entry form. The form provides the option for participants to be added their email list as well. The sweepstakes is also Like-gated, and gives entrants the option to share the submitted photo on their own Wall.

The Prize: Daily prizes of Godiva Valentine’s Day favorites, and a grand prize to meet Drew Barrymore as well as a year’s supply of Godiva chocolate.

What’s right:

It’s clearly a strategically-planned marketing campaign, with well designed visuals, a customized app, and congruous Facebook content.

Prizes are given out daily, which develops consistent habits and momentum.

They show other people’s entries, which creates a sense of community.

They make it easy to share and invite friends, which increases word-of-mouth marketing.

Their shown product is visually appealing.

They have partnered with a well-known influencer to increase brand reach.

Get UGC, and build emotional ties with your brand, with photo contests; deepen the community bond by showing all entries

Team up with influential partners to gain more public reach

Give away daily prizes to build momentum

4. Match to Melt Game: Lindt

Lindt Chocolate created a wickedly irresistible Valentine’s Day marketing campaign with an interactive memory card game on Facebook.

Participants play a branded card game by clicking on Lindor boxes. Each card reveals a scrumptious image of a chocolate product. The object is to match all twelve cards. The sweepstakes is both Like-gated and email-gated. Contestants can play the game once every day for 14 days.

The Prize: Instant prizes are awarded daily - with different Lindt chocolate delights every day (today’s prize for example is a bag of LINDOR truffles every month for a year). The grand prize is a trip for two to Napa Valley.

The interactive game is fun, simple, and shows off their chocolate products.

It entices Fans to engage with their Facebook Page daily with instant wins and new giveaways.

The prizes market their product directly and appeals to their demographic with a romantic weekend getaway.

They generate Fans and get email leads by Like and email-gating the promotion.

They include Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest share buttons to make it easy for their participants to spread the reach of their promotion.

Like Godiva, it is a strategically planned marketing campaign with well designed visuals, a customized app, and promotional Facebook content.

What’s wrong:

Not much - except it’s only available to US residents and I live in Canada…

How you can do it:

Add gamification to your marketing promotions with simple Facebook game apps, or even voting contests.

Give away daily instant-win prizes.

Incorporate your products in the sweepstakes or game visuals.

Like-gate and email-gate your contest to generate leads.

Conclusion

Thanks for basking in a moment of chocolate marketing with me. A well implemented, engaging Facebook promotion can romance your consumer, and turn them into heart-warming leads, word-of-mouth marketers, and loyal customers.